The barn is abuzz with winter projects. While Louis and Chives prep and sand and scrape and fill, Capt. is busy repairing the peapod. A couple of summers ago she received some structural damage to her mid-section and while she has held up fairly well under the strain, it was time to address her needs.

We carry this sweet little row boat on our davits and lower her all summer long for those who want to do a little harbor exploring or catch a bit of exercise to work off Annie’s meals, so she’s pretty important to our summer operations. In addition, she’s a Jimmy Steele design, one of the many built by the famous boat builder. We are lucky to have such a special little vessel and we are happy to be taking good care of her.

Here’s a little photo journal of the work and care she’s receiving.

Sistering a couple of frames and shoring up some planking

Hey, is that the home stove? And the teapot? Capt. is using both to steam a couple of frames.

Don’t steam the cookbooks! Ahhhh!

Gluing and clamping everything together

Now we wait

The final product – strong and beautiful

And then we add some pretty hardware so she can take us on many more rows this summer.

While the weather outside fluctuates between spring and the arctic, inside the barn, all is toasty and warm… and busy! Louis and Chives, long-timeRiggin crew, are both ‘on deck’ so to speak and in the barn full-time. Right now, much of their work is about making dust as they sand and scrape all of the surfaces in preparation for their shiny coats.

These two goons working away on the barrels – scrape, scrape, scrape

Oars and Captains wheel – gonna be shiny soon!

Hatch covers sanded and ready for the final varnish and paint coats

The yawl boat engine removed and transmission ready for a rebuild and reinstall

Spars for Iolaire getting touch ups and undercoats before the final coat goes on